Garment hanger



June 14, 1960 w. E. MARTIN 2,940,648

GARMENT HANGER Filed Nov. 19, 1956 l vvclvrok.

WILLIAM E. MART/N BY HIS ATTORNEYS. Haze/s, K/scg Fosrse 9; HHQR/S United States Patent GARMENT HANGER William E. Martin, Melvin B. Grover, Esq., Suite 1111, 650 s. Spring St., Los Angeles, Calif.

Filed Nov. 19, 1956, Ser. No. 622,898

1 Claim. (Cl. 223-95) This invention relates to garment hangers and, in particular, to a type of garment hanger which is very inexpensive to manufacture, yet suitable for supporting trousers or skirts without wrinkling and without requiring folding of the garment. V

The conventional wire garment hanger on which clothing is usually returned from a dry cleaner or presser re quires that a skirt or a pair of trousers be folded over the horizontal bar or that additional parts, such as pins or clips, be employed to suspend the garment from the horizontal bar. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a garment hanger which is as inexpensive as the conventional wire hanger and which will support a skirt or a pair of trousers without folding and without requiring additional parts.

It is another object of the invention to provide a garment hanger which may be made from a single length of wire with means for engaging a skirt or a pair of trousers formed integrally with the ends of the wire. A further object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger having a hook formed from a length of wire doubled-back on itself with the doubled-back portions spaced apart to provide a resilient structure urging the ends of the wire away from each other.

It is another object of the invention to provide a garment hanger having ends which are flexibly spaced from each other permitting varying sizes of trousers or skirts to be suspended therefrom without requiring adjustment of the hanger. Another object of the invention is to provide such a garment hanger which may be formed from a single length of wire and having no moving parts.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. The drawing merely shows and the description merely describes preferred embodiments of the present invention which are given by way of illustration or example.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view showing the embodiment of Fig. 1 with no garment suspended therefrom;

Fig. 3 is a side view showing the embodiment of Fig. l with a pair of trousers suspended therefrom;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the embodiment of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an isometric view of an alternative embodiment of the invention showing a skirt suspended there from; and

Fig. 6 is an end view of the embodiment of Fig. 5.

The hanger of the invention includes a centrally located suspension hook 10 and garment engaging members 12 and 14 positioned at each end of the hanger, respectively. The garment engaging members 12, 14 are movably spaced from each other by the resilient hook 16, the hanger normally assuming the position shown in Fig. "2 when no garment is being supported.

of wire by making an'approximately one hundred eighty degree bend 16 in the length'of wire to doublethe wire back on itself, forming approximately parallel arms '18 and 20 which are spaced from each other. The arms 18 and 26 are disposed so that they lie substantially in a vertical plane when the hook is positioned over a suitable bar or the like. The book 10 is temporarily deformable by bringing the arms 18 and 20 together to exert forces urging the members 12 and 14 apart.

The garment engaging members 12 and 14 are preferably formed integrally with the suspension hook 10. However, of course, they could be produced as separate units and attached to the outwardly flaring arms 22, 24 of the hook. The garment engaging members 12 and 14 are identical and 12 will be described as illustrative. The wire comprising the hanger is bent at one end to form two upstanding arms 26, 28, the arms being substantially parallel to each other and spaced apart by a horizontal member 30 which joins the upstanding arms 26, 28 adjacent a bottom corner of each. Similar upstanding arms 32, 34 are formed at the other end of the length of wire to comprise the garment engaging member 14.

A pair of trousers 36, shown in phantom in Fig. 3, may be suspended from the hanger of the invention by placing the upstanding arms 28 and 34 in one cuif 38 of the trousers and placing the upstanding arms 26 and 32 in the other cuff of the trousers. In order to so engage the arms in the cuffs, the garment engaging members must be compressed towards each other to the position shown in Fig. 3. When in this position, the resilient hook 10 exerts forces urging the garment engaging members away from each other and holds the cuffs of the trousers in tension. Because of the resiliency of the hanger, trousers with any size cuffs may be suspended therefrom with the cuffs maintained in tension, thereby eliminating wrinkling in the trouser legs.

An alternative embodiment of the invention adapted for supporting skirts is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 where elements identical to those of the first embodiment are identified by the same reference numerals. The hanger includes the resilient suspension hook 10 and skirt engaging clips 40 and 42 formed at the ends of the outwardly flaring arms 22, 24, respectively. Each of the skirt engaging clips consists of an upwardly extending loop 44 having one arm 46 bent back to engage the other arm 48 of the loop, the clip preferably being formed so that the loop exerts a spring force urging the arms 46 and 48 into contact with each other.

A skirt 50, shown in phantom in Fig. 5, may be supported from the garment hanger by sliding opposing edges of the waistband of the skirt into the clips 40, 42, the skirt being passed between the arms 46, 48 of the clips. In order to so engage the skirt, it is necessary to press the clips 40, 42 toward each other, resulting in forces being exerted by the resilient suspension hook tending to force the clips apart and thereby maintaining the skirt in tension regardless of the size of the skirt.

Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been disclosed and discussed, it will be understood that other applications of the invention are possible and that the embodiments disclosed may be subjected to various changes, modifications and substitutions without necessarily departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

A garment hanger consisting of a single length of wire having an approximately bend adjacent the center thereof forming approximately parallel arms extending from said bend and spaced from each other, said arms adjacent said bend being formed into a compressible suspension hook disposed in a vertical plane, with said and terminating in pairs of trouser cufl engaging elements for supporting :and maintaining ,a, pair of trousers thereon inctension with asaidrrsuspension ihook compressed to .exsrt an expansiviforce between saidpair s, each of'said pairs 7 comprising two upstanding parallel arms spaced apart by a horizontal member positioned atthe lowervedges of said upstanding arms. a

' arms continuously diverging downwardly from said hook References Cited in the 'file' ofth'is patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Pick July 3, 1956 1am I 

